LinkedIn Does Not A Network Make

I had a conversation with Dawn tonight about “networking” and using LinkedIn. My wife, with her wonderful honesty, reminded me I have some pretty strong opinions about this subject. Our conversation reminded of me of my own axiom: just because you're on LinkedIn doesn't mean you're building your network or even "networking".

I have been on LinkedIn for a couple of years now and have found it to be a very helpful tool to keep track of all of the career movement out there. When I am looking to hire someone, or want to make a referral to a hiring manager or recruiter, LinkedIn is often the first place I visit. On many occasions, I have also been able to connect with people of whom I had lost track.

LinkedIn is a tool for gathering your contacts' info. It is not, however, the only one.  I use an application on my Mac that has proven to be a great tool for maintaining contact info.  Nothing high tech here. It's called Address Book and comes, with little fanfare, on every Mac.  For those on Windows machines, I guess you could use Outlook or build your own in Excel or Access. I maintain my address book with religious devotion. People are, after all, how and why the world works. I treasure my family, my friends, my colleagues and people in general. I keep up to date contact details and reach out to everyone I know every few months or so. It is a practice that has given me great joy through the years.

I take great pride in maintaing my personal and professional networks. Staying in contact with people has proven valuable many times. Add to that the fact that most would call me a pretty “social” person; I genuinely enjoy meeting and spending time with people. Every success I have had in my career is thanks to lessons I have learned from other people. Learning new things and growing starts with building and maintaining a strong network.

To help you build your network, here are my 5 tips for using LinkedIn:

1. Share your contact information. I am happy to share my work and personal e-mail addresses, work, home and cell phone numbers with anyone in my network. If you are not willing to share all of your contact details with someone, you have no business sending them an invite on LinkedIn.

2. Don’t discriminate. LinkedIn represents only a small percentage of what would be considered my professional network. I believe in building my professional network indiscriminately; I don’t just focus on those that are on LinkedIn, thus my reason for using Address Book. As a rule, I never send a “join LinkedIn” invite to people that I know that aren’t on LinkedIn. Chances are, they know about it already and I don’t need LinkedIn to stay in touch with them.

3. Personalize your introduction and invitation request. “Because you are a person I trust...” and “I'd like to add you to my professional network...” is code word for “You’re not important enough to me to take the time to write a personal note.” Okay, I admit, that’s a bit much, but is it really that hard to customize that message? If you get a link request from me I promise you’ll get a customized note, and my contact info!

4. Building meaningful relationships starts by adding value. Your professional network is not there for you to feed on. Look for ways you can contribute to others.  Check in with people, ask how you can help. Make meeting new people a priority. And please, when you do, stick your hand out and introduce yourself.

5. Stay in contact. My Mother, being in business for herself most of her life, planted the seeds for this practice early in my life. She taught me that staying in contact is the most important rule in building relationships. Make a point to reach out to your contacts regularly. My goal is to reach out to everyone every 3 months. Admittedly, I fall a little behind from time to time but would never dream of letting 6 months or more go without sending out a quick e-mail, phone call or card (yes, hand written cards rock). If you value your relationships, stay in contact. My trick: schedule time on your calendar to follow up. After years of doing this, it comes natural and the rewards are immense.

Networking, as a term, gets a bad rap. Building relationships is about sharing and adding value.

If you want to link with me, you know where to find me.

Easter 2009

Another Easter, another visit by the Texas Beckwiths. JR, Megan, Wynter and Audrey came out again this year and spent easter with us. Once again, we had all of the brothers and sister in the same house at the same time. Of course, that means we had the opportunity to take the same picture we took in 2007.

Yes, it does seem that I am wearing the same hat and shirt. Check out the rest of the 2009 Easter pictures here.

Happy Birthday Elizabeth

Happy birthday Elizabeth.

Another cousin turns 7!

Check out the other pics here.

Party Pardee Century

Yesterday, just like in 2007, I rode the Party Pardee Century with Mike and his son Spencer. Howard Park in Ione greeted us with chilly temperatures. It was 29 degrees when we pulled in and probably didn’t get much above 30 for the first hour on the road. I dressed appropriately for the ride, meaning that I froze for nearly the entire first hour. My face was so cold I would have surely sounded drunk if you tried to carry on a conversation with me. I can deal with cold feet and legs. What made the first hour and a half tough was that my hands were frozen. Even though I was wearing long gloves, I felt like I had ice blocks on the ends of my hands. I rode 5 miles or so sitting up with my hands held tightly under my armpits. It helped a lot and allowed me to eventually to use my shifters. I also stayed in a lower gear then normal and tried to keep my cadence over 110 until I got warm.

The Sacramento Bike Hikers sure know how to put on a great century. This year’s theme was Puttin’ On The Ritz. Almost all of their volunteers wore top hats and they had costumed volunteers at all the rest stops. The check-in was very smooth and fast. They had tons of great food at the start and even better food at the rest stops. My favorite item was some concotion made with fresh blackberries and cream cheese. They had that sitting next to the container of Nutella spread. I grabbed a couple of quarter-bagels and slapped some of each on them. There were also a ton of fresh fruit and plenty of water, cytomax and lemonade. At every rest stop the volunteers were very friendly and supportive.

As for the ride, I was reminded why this is my favorite metric century anywhere! The route treats us to some of the best views in the foothills and by the Lake Camanche and Pardee Reservoir. Then there are the hills. That’s why I love this ride. This is not an easy ride-in-the-park metric century. With 4200 feet of climbing, it’s a good challenge for this early in the year. I still ride a triple and I was able to stay in my center ring over all of the climbs. Near the end of the day, on the last climb, I was tempted to pop down to my little ring but alas, I persisted up the hill without it.

Mike and Spencer rode very well. Spencer had not ridden in months and probably hadn’t climbed since the last time we did this ride. His strength continues to amaze me! Mike, the best riding partner a guy could ask for, fought the hills and came out victorious. Although he will tell you that he suffered (duh, we all did) through the hills he still made it to each peak and still ended the day strong! As he always does, Mike was there with plenty of encouragement and just a little bit of smack-talk.

The other thing I love about doing rides like these is the people. Riding all day and “talking shop” with a bunch of other cyclists is a great way to spend the day. At the last stop I ran into David who I met at last years Sunrise Century and of course Allan, the guy with the music. At the end of the day, as we packing up, I asked a passer-by to take our picture (the one above). The guy that took our picture just happened to be a guy that I found on Twitter the night before (@smflash). What are the odds!?!

Stats: 65 miles 4:51:00 on bike 13.4 MPH 4200’ of climbing 2 sunburned legs

Great job Bike Hikers! You put on another great event. See you next year!

Check out the pics here.

Pedaling Paths Century

Today I rode the Pedaling Paths to Independence metric century. Long name, but great ride. In its inaguraul year, this ride was put on by the Community Center for the Blind and started at Linden Elementary school.

My riding partner Mike picked me up at 7:30 and we drove out to Linden where we met up with Mike aka, “Death Ride” - a name he earned from me after riding in the Death Ride after only training for three weeks! We hit the road at 8:50 and headed straight into a gnarly head wind.

The first rest stop came a bit too soon, at mile 12 in Farmington. We stopped for a minute and then took off ahead of Death Ride. He passed us a few minutes later and we never saw on the route again. Our route took us out to Milton Road and back up near the town of Jenny Lind. We were both pretty happy that we had a pretty decent stretch of road with a tail wind.

The flyer said there was 1,300 feet of climbing. Didn’t sound like a lot but given how early it was in the riding season, that 1,300 was plenty!

The rest stops were stocked very well and the volunteers did an excellent job making sure everyone had what they needed. We met a lot of other great cyclist that came from all over northern California to ride this new century. I kept gawking at all of the new bikes and gear I saw and by the end of the day Mike convinced me I needed a new bike (not going to happen!).

As for the cars out on the road - many were courteous, some were not. There was a lot of cars that flew by us without giving us an extra inch of room. Luckily, from what we heard, there were no accidents out on the course.

We got back to Linden about 2:00 and had a great lunch from DaVinci’s. Again, the volunteers did an excellent job making sure there was plenty of food and drinks to go around. Pleasantly, and unlike many rides I’ve done, they did not skimp on the portions either. After a half-day on a bike I was hungry and they were glad to fill me up.

Overall, the ride was excellent! The course was challenging and interesting. The volunteers were friendly and accomodating. These guys did a great job on the first try. I will certainly be adding this ride as my regular early season metric century!

Stats 67.31 miles 4:46:17 on bike Fair amount of climbing Google map of route

My trusty steed!

Check out the rest of the pics here.

Tour of California

This morning we drove out to Davis to catch the start of Stage 1 of the Amgen Tour of California. It was horribly windy and cold in Stockton and the weather only got worse as we got into Davis. We arrived at the Mondavi center about 10 o’clock and took the double decker bus downtown. Even though it was raining and cold, the atmosphere was great with cycling fans everywhere. I can’t believe we live this close to Davis and have never been there. There were tons of people on bikes, even a parade of people riding penny-farthings. I was really wishing I would’ve brought mine.

The girls got a chance to write chalk messages for Lance and each scored a box of yellow Livestrong chalk.

We stood in the rain for an hour and a half until the race started. Unlike when the race started in Stockton, we did not actually see any of the big named riders until they took off out of the gate.

The weather made it difficult to take many pictures although we did manage to snap a few. Check them out here.

I Do... Again

Tonight, Dawn and I renewed our wedding vows in front of thousands of screaming fans. Well, we weren’t the only ones. The Stockton Thunder and KATM 103.3 had a promotion tonight where DJ Walker, a licensed minister, performed another mass wedding on the ice after the first period. Although most were there to renew their wedding vows, there were quite a few couple actually getting married. What did we wear for this occasion? Well, I wore the same Stockton Thunder shirts I wear to every game, along with a black suit coat. Dawn wore her Thunder shirt along with a beautiful veil. We were at a hockey game getting married (again) after all.

We watched the first period on TV in the large banquet room and then made our way out on to the ice. With a fight in the first couple of minutes and a 3-0 lead, the Thunder had done more than there share getting the crowd excited.

After we were re-married we went to our seats and joined the friends and family that had come out to watch us (and a hockey game).

The rest of the game did not go so well for the Thunder and we eventually lost 5-4. The Thunder remained scoreless in the second period and only scored the 4th goal on the very last second of the game.

We also tried, along with some people sitting near us, to start a wave. We never really got it going but Mike went down near the glass and got a lot of people to start doing it.

Thanks to Tony, Mike, Shauna, Christian, Rachel, Emily, Makenzy, Jack, Rita, Ken, Megen, Kenny, Missy, Dad, Angela, Tom, Tom, and Justin for coming out and sharing our special night with us.

I love you Dawn!

Check out the pictures from tonight here.

Also, Ken took a video of the fight between Stockton’s Adam Huxley and Bakersfield’s Hank

Why I Love Golf

For many years I did not understand the fascination my twin brother had with golf. He’s not one of those die hard golfers but has played for a decade or so. Walking around a big course chasing that little white ball seemed like a waste of a good day. Getting that ball in that little hole from hundreds of yards away seemed next to impossible. I knew enough to know it was not an easy skill to master. Having gone out to a driving range years before I could appreciate that swinging a club and controlling where the ball went was something that did not come natural to me.

Finally, last August, when JR was out from Texas, he and I joined Mike and Shawn for my first round of golf. I stepped out on the first tee box of the executive course at Swenson Golf Course, put the ball on the tee and grabbed a club from the bag Mike had “loaned” me. Of course, it was not the right club and Mike tossed me the 7 iron. I landed my very first shot on the green! Wow! I then proceeded to take 8 putts to sink it.

I have played a few times since then (ok, maybe more than a few times) and am really enjoying the game but I am a long, long way from being good. I love data and numbers and this new hobby gives me plenty of data to think about. At the rate I’m going I have some time before I start playing par golf.

Why do I love golf?

Golf is good exercise. It’s not a rigorous work out but playing the big course without a cart means more than 5 miles of walking, with a golf bag on my back.

There is no subjectivity. I either hit the ball where I wanted to or I didn’t. I either made it in 5 strokes or 9. When we actually keep score I know exactly where I ended, and how far I am from my goal. Data doesn’t lie.

There is great tradition in golf. My brother Mike has taught me the game by focusing on the rules and traditions first. He told me I can work on my approach, stance, grip and swing later - first I had to learn the social graces of the game. I’ve learned not to walk ahead of others in my group, shut up when someone’s taking their shot and never walk on someone’s line on the green.

Golf is a social sport. Like cycling, golf can be played alone but is better with good friends and family. Also, like cycling, I enjoy the game a lot more when I focus on what I’m doing and with whom I’m doing it. Plus, since I’ll never get Mike on a bicycle, it’s a good chance to spend a half-day with him.

Now, after six months, I no longer have to ask Mike or Shawn which club I should be using as I approach my next shot. That alone gives me a great sense of accomplishment. Now I must work on my short game.

Hit ‘em long.

Hit ‘em straight!

There Are Jobs Out There

This is dedicated to all of my friends and former colleagues who have recently been given lay off notices. They are some wickedly talented people and I wish them all the best. On the US jobs front, this has been an ugly week, and it's only Tuesday.  So, here are three things I believe to be true:

1. Unemployment is high. 2. The economy is in the the tank. 3. There are jobs out there!

Yesterday, 7 companies announced a total of 71,400 job cuts.  Today, another 11,500 were lost.  With over 218,000 announced layoffs since January 1 this is shaping up to be a very tough year.  In the financial services industry alone, there have been over 230,000 jobs lost since November 2008.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today that the national unemployment rate rose from 6.8 to 7.2 percent. California had the highest increase (9.3 percent in December) while Michigan had the highest overall (10.6 percent).

I could have become one of those unemployed.

In September of last year, the bank I worked for failed, was taken over by the US government and then sold off to a competitor. Many of my friends and colleagues there told me they were nervous because they hadn't updated their resume in years.  Some did not remember how they got this job and felt as if they were not well equipped to get a job in today's market.  At this company, I had the honor of working with some very bright and strong people.  Even some of the most talented professionals I knew were more than a little underprepared.  Hundreds of people were registering forLinkedIn for the first time, even those that were against it when times were good.

Because I was prepared, I quickly found a new job.

One week after I started that new job, 1,500 of my former colleagues were handed lay off notices.

Going through this solidified my long-held belief that preparation is key to success in a job search.

Regardless of your current employment status, there are things you can do help prepare you in your career search now and in the future. To summarize something Mike Auzenne from Manager Tools has said; the time to search for batteries for the flashlight is not at the moment when the power goes out.  Preparing for a career search is rarely taught and does not come natural to us flawed humans. Don't wait until you have to find a job to figure out how you'll find a job.

In his podcast, How I Got My Job, Daniel Johnson, Jr. interviews people about the steps they followed to get their current or past job. Across all of the interviews, there are a myriad of different things people did to land their job.  One thing is clear, though, they didn't wake up in the morning, open their front door and find that job waiting on the porch for them.  Different people have different circumstances but it seems the old adage applies to job seeking - Luck is where opportunity meets preparation.

In another resource, Career Opportunities, a blog and podcast by Douglas E. Welch he offers practical tips to improve your career and your search. Douglas’s work shows that there is great value in always working to “sharpen the saw”.

Over the last couple of months I have changed careers and have seen a number of friends and former colleagues do the same.  Of course, the job market is tightening but there are still jobs to be had.  Now, more than ever, is the time to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack.

Through the years, here are some of the things I've learned that have help me.

It's all about the people.

Build meaningful professional relationships.  When I hear "network" used as a verb I think of an IT guy pulling cable and connecting computers.  Build meaningful professional relationships, don't waste your time "networking".

Too many people ignore the value of professional relationships until they really need help.  Building meaning relationships is like saving for retirement.  Don't decide you need to start contributing to your 401k a month before you plan on retiring, unless you want to be broke.  Likewise, don't think that taking someone's business card means that person owes you a favor (or a job).  Meet people.  If you only know people you work with, look for opportunities to meet and interact with people outside your company, in your industry or in your same geographical area.  Relationships, like your retirement, take time to grow and foster.  Always ask, "What value can I offer someone" before you expect others to deliver value to you.

Know what's out there.

My first paying job was as an Advertising Clerk for Catalyst Personnel.  At the ripe age of 12, I was responsible for clipping help-wanted advertisements for my Aunt Kelly's staffing company.  I was paid $1 for each of her ads I clipped, taped to a sheet of binder paper and placed in a binder along with the date and name of the publication.  She only ran ads on Wednesdays and Sundays and would have anywhere from 5 to 25 openings advertised.  I had to scan each column to look for her business name.

Aunt Kelly taught me a valuable lesson.  She taught me that reading help-wanted ads every week was better than reading the business section in the local newspaper.  I continued to read local help-wanted ads until just a couple of years ago.  After more than twenty years of reading the classified section I had a pretty good idea who was hiring and when.  As I built my professional network I began to ask people in those companies who was hired and where they came from.  When that person left the company or moved to another position the ad would pop back in the newspaper and the cycle began anew.

Even though I am very happy in my new job and have no desire to leave, I still spend a little time every other week or so looking to see what jobs are out there. Well, believe it or not, sometimes I learn that a company is hiring because of a story in the local paper.  I still scan Monster, HotJobs and even my local paper.  I have also found value in having a premium membership at TheLadders.  Over the last few years I have also developed relationships with a handful of very talented recruiters.  I make referrals when I can and always have "my ear on the street".

This step, looking when you don't need to be, seems to be the most forgotten.  For many, it might be the feeling of guilt that prevents someone from looking but realize that I suggest looking, not necessarily applying.  Simply knowing what companies are hiring in your area is an advantage over having no idea.

If you are wonderfully happy and successful in your current position, congratulations!  Still, you need to look out in the market and see what else is out there. Don't wait until you're unemployed to find out who's hiring in your town, your field or your industry.

Learn how to prepare for the search, interview and offer.

Just like get-rich quick books clutter the shelves at Borders, there is no shortage of how to interview resources out there.  Some claim to give you all the right answers and land that perfect job.  Preparation is more than trying to figure out the secret questions the interviewer might ask.

Manager Tools has a series of podcasts and resources that teach, step-by-step, how to become a more effective job-seeker, from your resume and cover letter, working with recruiters, interview preparation and even how to accept an offer.

I was raised by a Certified Employment Specialist who had a phenomenal career as a resume writer and employment consultant.  My Mother spent decades learning the craft of interviewing and job placement.  With thousands of clients all over the world my Mother was considered an expert by many.  When most kids were playing baseball or learning to play a musical instrument (that they would grow up hating to play and then regretting they didn't stick with) I was learning how to write a cover letter, how to follow up after an interview and how to get a job!

Having said that, I still say that there is no resource as good as Manager Tools.  Their Interviewing Series truly is the best definitive resource out there to make your search more effective.  It will take work on your part.  It is not, after-all, a magic cure-all pill.  Invest the time to go through all of it and you'll find you're getting more interviews and more offers!

Often, job seekers apply the same logic that got them their very first job throughout the rest of their career. That is clearly a big risk. Preparation is vital. Build strong professional relationships. Know what’s out there. Learn about the process.

Don’t get caught up in the negative press. There actually are jobs available right now. Finding your next job, especially in this market, might prove tough. You’ll need to work hard at it and that hard work starts with preparation.

Stay positive, keep looking, never stop looking.

Hello To The New Mr. President

Today, as we’ve done in America many times before over the past 300 years, we ushered in a new President. The peaceful transition of power is an important piece to the government of our nation. Perhaps it was the hype over the new administration or the prevalence of coverage on the internet but I don’t ever remember following past Presidential inaugurations as closely as I did this one. It was a very interesting day and I don’t mind admitting that I totally got caught up in the spectacle of it all. Besides the actual event, I really enjoyed learning about the traditions associated with the inauguration. Regardless of your political affiliation or opinion, I hope you took the time to observe the changing of the guard today.